Thunder, Lightning roll red lentils into new era
THUNDER and Lightning and a kind start to the season in most growing regions look set to propel Australia’s production of red lentils to new highs in 2023-24.
Both varieties have been bred by Grains Innovation Australia with a market focus, and while Lightning was released commercially last year, Thunder is set to arrive with a bang in the current season.
Lightning is suited to lighter soils and lower rainfall, while Thunder is shaping up as the replacement for Hallmark, with all three available through GIA commercial partner PB Seeds.
NVT results show both can consistently out-yield other smaller Nipper types, and their marketability into South Asian markets is high because of their suitability as “footballs”, or skinned whole product, as well as for splitting.
While a repeat of last spring’s ideal growing conditions is unlikely, gross margins for lentils make them a compelling choice for growers in most regions of South Australia and Victoria.
Lynchpin in rotations
ABARES figures over the past decade chart the rise of primarily red lentils in Australia, with 165,000ha yielding 185,000t in 2012-13 swelling to a record 646,000ha producing 1,412,000t in 2022-23.
Early indications are the 2023-24 crop will set the bar even higher, with planting now complete.
Pulse Australia southern agronomist Phil Bowden said attractive gross margins, and the suitability of Lightning to districts on the northern and western fringe of lentils’ heartland all look set to see further expansion this year, and more in years to come.
“Lentils have changed the face of cropping in a lot of those Vic and SA regions, especially in the alkaline soils”
In SA, the Yorke Peninsula, Upper North and Murray-Mallee have seen a surge in area planted to lentils in recent years, and the same is evident in parts of the Victorian Mallee.
“Things really changed in 2015-16, when growers had high prices, and high yields, and the lentils became the major part of the rotation.
“From 2015-16, they’ve sort of replaced wheat as the main rotation crop.”
“That’s been the watershed, and because they store so well, farmers are quite happy to keep them for 3-4 years and wait for the market to turn in their favour.”
“Just about every year we’ve seen increases in areas of lentils.”
Bulk path emerges
COVID and the havoc it brought to global supply chains hit the pulse market hard, with a paucity of containers available, and freight rates skyrocketing amid unreliable shipping schedules.
The upshot has been that bulk exports of lentils out of SA and Vic ports have boomed, and made elevation margins more attractive for all involved.
“Before COVID, a lot were marketed in containers, and now they’re going in bulk in massive loads; that’s brought the cost down, and farmers are seeing the benefits.”
On more than 2 million tonnes per annum in non-drought years, Canada is the world’s largest lentil exporter by far, but ships mostly green lentils.
Canada’s red lentils do compete with Australian product into South Asia, but predominantly find a home in Turkey, Egypt and the Middle East.
“Our market for those lentils is a niche market.
“Canada doesn’t produce those size and shape; they have bigger green ones.”
“We get premiums for our small red lentils.”
Surge in SA, Vic interest
In South Australia, Upper Eyre Peninsula agronomist Troy Maitland of EP AGnFERT, Kimba, said some growers tried lentils for the first time last year, made good money on them, and are growing them again this year.
“There’s certainly been an increase in Kimba,” Mr Maitland said.
“They’re the flavour of the month; they yielded very well last year, and more and more growers are having a play with them.”
Lentils crops on the Upper EP last year yielded 2-3t/ha, up from a usual 1t/ha.
Selling for at least $700/t on farm, 2022-23 lentils have been the stand-out earner in one of the mildest and wettest springs in living memory.
“When you look at the gross margins on them, they’re pretty good, but it was certainly a season out of the box.
“They’re an opportunity crop for us; September is when we need rain, and so do lentils.”
Mr Maitland said legumes have a place already in many Upper EP rotations, and field peas have shown themselves to be “a bit more resilient” in the dry finishes expected in the region.
Along with colleague Kevin Dart, Mr Maitland said the new varieties hold the promise of yielding better than their predecessors, even during a typically dry spring.
“They have a bit of early maturity, and a bit more tolerance to heat stress,” Mr Dart said.
Mr Maitland said growers want a legume in the rotation as a disease break, and a natural source of nitrogen, and lentils can now fit the bill.
“Once upon a time, the varieties didn’t suit; now varieties are a lot better and more profitable.”
In Victoria, Frontier Farming Systems director Michael Moodie said Thunder has attracted plenty of attention, and was being used in some of the organisation’s trials.
“It’s performed well in NVT, and plenty of people are growing it for seed this year,” Mr Moodie said.
He said the past decade has seen Mallee growers generally wanting to include more legumes in their rotation for the benefits of sustainability, and the solution depended on seasons, soil types and price.
“People are still sorting out what’s right for them.
“As a general rule, lentils and vetch are finding the place most consistently, and after that it’s chickpeas and field peas, with some lupins where it gets sandy.
“With lentils, it’s the high value nature of them that can really work.
“In the southern Mallee, they’ve been quite entrenched for a while; in the northern Mallee from Ouyen up, they’re still finding their place.”
The Mallee can suffer some harsh and dry seasons, and Mr Moodie said these can quash interest in lentils in the rotation.
“We’ll have a couple of good years in a row and see an uptake in lentils, then a run of two bad seasons and people will fall back to field peas or more vetch, so something they see as less risky.
“The people that have the most success with lentils commit to them; you’ll have good and bad years, but people that chase everything will miss that 2t/ha year at $800/t.”
Thunder sells out
PB Seeds has handled the bulking up and sale of Thunder and Lightning, and commercial manager Janine Sounness said seed sales indicate Thunder will be grown over 45,000ha, and Lightning over 10,000ha.
With its yield advantage and comparable disease rating, Thunder is expected to shuffle in on Hallmark territory, while Lightning has potential to push into new areas.
“When you get a variety that has a big jump in yield, which Thunder does, growers are pretty quick to catch on,” Ms Sounness said.
“We’ve had orders in our system since June last year for this variety.
“We’ve been taking an enormous amount of orders and we’ve never had that kind of interest for the first year of release; it’s astonishing.”
Thunder seed crops across SA and Vic yielded 4t/ha in the dream season, and seed has sold out from PB Seeds site at Kalkee in Vic’s Wimmera, and from its SA distributor, AG Schilling & Co on Yorke Peninsula.
“Because of the late season, some crops weren’t harvested until January, when normally it would be November-December.”
Both varieties have come from local genetics, with Lightning bred following some research funded by the South Australian Grain Industry Trust.
Grains Innovation Australia releases LRPB Anvil wheat
THE launch of a new hard imidazolinone (IMI) herbicide tolerant wheat variety, LRPB Anvil, bred by Grains Innovation Australia (GIA), has been described as a great example of success through diverse collaboration.
GIA breeder Michael Materne combined forces with LongReach Plant Breeders (LRPB) wheat breeder Bertus Jacobs to produce Anvil wheat for growers in Australian low rainfall regions.
“This is the first wheat to come out of our Innovative Wheat Program, a joint program which develops improved high yield wheats with robust features in an IMI background,” Dr Jacobs said.
LRPB Anvil is a two-gene IMI tolerant wheat with quick spring maturity and bold early growth that provides good early weed competition.
“Anvil has expressed excellent adaptation to low rainfall areas with its rapid grain filling, delivering high yields in faster finishing environments,” Dr Jacobs said.
“In medium rainfall areas it is also an option in later-break scenarios and delayed sowing strategies for double knock weed control.”
LRPB Anvil has an Australian Hard classification in the southern zone and is being commercialised by Pacific Seed with good availability throughout the Seed Associate network.
Dr Materne has a long track record of breeding improved conventional and herbicide tolerant lentil varieties.
Now, instead of working on lentils in isolation, his breeding focus with GIA has been how to improve varieties of multiple crops to
suit a broad range of farm systems and regions.
“Innovation doesn’t just happen,” Dr Materne said.
“Through combining our ideas, broad agricultural knowledge, skills, and breeding resources from GIA and LRPB, we have developed Anvil together.
“Further to Anvil, we have some exciting wheat types coming through our Innovative Wheat Program in years to come, which will add to the toolbox for growers’ crop rotation decisions.”
Anvil adds to growing list of 2022 variety releases from the GIA private breeding company which includes the highest yielding IMI lentils – GIA Lightning and GIA Thunder – along with two new dual herbicide lentil types, GIA Metro and GIA Sire.
GIA’s collaboration with InterGrain and Nufarm has resulted in the second IMI hay oat variety, Archer, an earlier maturing, erect variety being released this year.
GIA’s work with InterGrain also saw the recent release of their second barley variety, Zena CL, suited to medium-high rainfall environments.
Dr Materne said Australian cropping regions were diverse and each faced different and ever-changing issues.
“I look at opportunities to breed varieties to give a particular region or farm system an advantage or solve a problem within the rotation,” he said.
“It’s great to work with other groups where we can add value as partners and create new varieties for growers.”
“InterGrain launches Zena CL as new barley variety”
INTERGRAIN has this month launched a new Clearfield barley variety, Zena CL, in time for planting next year.
Formerly known by its breeding code IGB20125T, Zena CL offers a mid-maturity and vigorous plant type, is well suited to medium to high-rainfall environments, and is agronomically similar to RGT Planet.
InterGrain trials over the past three years, and NVT trials in 2021, indicate Zena CL yields are similar to those of RGT Planet.
“Zena CL is the first Clearfield barley targeted for these environments, enabling more growers to take advantage of this technology for their rotations,” Grains Innovation Australia (GIA) breeder Michael Materne said.
Dr Materne developed the variety with InterGrain.
InterGrain barley breeder David Moody said Zena CL provides growers in medium to high-rainfall districts with a high-yielding option for use within the IMI barley rotation.
“Grower interest has been strong due to interest in an IMI tolerant variety with similar agronomic attributes to RGT Planet,” Mr Moody said.
“As well as similar yield potential to RGT Planet, Zena CL has good levels of resistance to powdery mildew and leaf rust.
“Like RGT Planet, Zena CL is susceptible to both the Net Form and Spot Form of Net Blotch.
“Zena CL possess similar physical grain quality characteristics and lodging tolerance and head loss risk as RGT Planet.”
Zena CL has been submitted to Australia’s malt accreditation program. with earliest potential final accreditation by March 2024.
Zena CL possesses the Clearfield herbicide-tolerance trait developed by Agriculture Victoria Services, which is currently exclusively licensed to InterGrain.
The presence of the trait provides Zena CL with tolerance to registered label rates of APVMA-approved IMI herbicides, offering growers the ability to control brome and barley grass within the barley rotation.
The Clearfield trait provides increased rotational flexibility when other IMI tolerant crops have been grown the previous year and where there are concerns about soil residues.
Zena CL also provides the opportunity for effective control of conventional self-sown cereals within barley crops using APVMA registered imidazolinone chemistry.
Zena CL was bred and developed collaboratively by GIA, a private breeding company developing varieties, and InterGrain, through a barley-breeding partnership.
InterGrain is 62-per-cent owned by the Western Australian Government, with the Grains Research and Development Corporation holding the balance.
Zena CL is available for planting in 2023 from InterGrain Seedclub Members and resellers.
Image: InterGrain Barley Breeder David Moody and CEO Tress Walmsley launching Zena CL
at Croppa Creek, NSW last Friday 26th August 2022.
Source: InterGrain
“InterGrain releases tolerant oaten hay variety, Archer”
A NEW single gene imiadazolinone (IMI) tolerant oaten hay variety, which will deliver agronomic and yield benefits to hay growers, has been launched by national cereal breeder InterGrain.
Archer, bred by InterGrain partner Grains Innovation Australia (GIA), offers growers high yield and quality oaten hay, while also providing a new herbicide option for the hay rotation, significantly improving weed control.
GIA breeder Michael Materne said the release of Archer was a significant opportunity to expand hay production in shorter season areas.
“Archer’s good stem strength will also be a benefit for early sowing and support hay, grazing or forage mixes with legumes,” Dr Materne said.
Archer is a mid-maturing oaten hay variety suitable for planting in the major hay growing regions of Australia.
It has demonstrated excellent hay yield across a wide range of environments in Western Australia, Victoria and South Australia, having a similar and in some environments slightly improved yield to Yallara and Brusher.
InterGrain oat breeder Allan Rattey said Archer had adequate hay quality characteristics and could be suitable for the export market if managed appropriately.
“The new IMI oat has a medium height variety, with a medium stem thickness, good early vigour and hay colour retention,” Dr Rattey said.
“Preliminary data indicates a similar disease profile to Yallara, being moderately resistant to stem rust and moderately resistant to leaf rust in WA, although cereal cyst nematode in Archer may require proactive rotational management.”
Archer was present in InterGrain’s 2021 trials at nine locations, as well as six locations as part of the National Hay Agronomy (NHA) trials.
A combination of 2022 paddock performance and data from InterGrain and NHA trials will provide an opportunity to gather additional information for Archer.
InterGrain chief executive officer Tress Walmsley said InterGrain and GIA were proud to have partnered with Nufarm to produce innovative herbicide technology systems that will help Australian farmers overcome challenges in controlling weeds in their oaten hay.
“We recognise that the IMI technology in oaten hay systems is considered a highly useful tool within a cropping system and collectively we have been working hard to deliver this tool to industry,” Ms Walmsley said.
“From our work with Nufarm, Sentry herbicide is currently registered for pre-planting incorporation by seeding for hay and seed production in Archer.”
A Sentry registration application for use in Archer grain (domestic feed market only) production has been submitted to the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority and a decision is expected this year.
“A successful registration will allow Archer to be consumed onfarm and sold into domestic feed markets, although Archer will be unable to be delivered to any local grain receival sites,” Ms Walmsley said.
Archer is available for planting in 2023 from local resellers and Seedclub members.
Source: InterGrain
Grains Innovation Australia lentils set to offer herbicide tolerant traits
A pair of new red lentil varieties offered by start-up independent plant breeder Grains Innovation Australia (GIA) are set to offer growers a range of herbicide-tolerant options suited across Australia’s lentil producing heartland of Victoria and South Australia.
GIA breeder Michael Materne, based in Horsham, said national variety trial (NVT) data showed the varieties stacked up well against industry benchmarks in a range of settings.
Dr Materne said the aim with one of the varieties, GIA Lightning had been to provide growers in lower rainfall, sandy soil environments, such as the Mallee, a solid herbicide-tolerant option that could help them better incorporate a pulse within their broader crop rotation.
GIA Lightning is an imidazolinone (imi) tolerant line that across Victorian and South Australian NVT trials has yielded on average 109 per cent of Hurricane XT, currently one of the most widely grown imi-tolerant varieties in lower rainfall zones.
Dr Materne said the breeding process had been tailored to creating a variety with good yield stability and growth pattern and a plant type suitable for sandier soils.
The variety is scheduled for commercial release this year and has proved popular.
Janine Sounness, commercial manager at PBSeeds, the distributor of the new variety, said all available seed had already been sold to farmers across both South Australia and Victoria.
Another variety the fledgling breeder is excited about is GIA Thunder, which has consistently proved the top yielding imi-tolerant lentil across trials conducted both by GIA and its collaborators and in NVTs in major lentil producing regions.
Recently released NVT data shows GIA Thunder’s yield potential on average is 112pc of Hurricane XT across Victoria and South Australian trials over 2020 and 2021.
Along with its herbicide tolerance, Dr Materne said GIA Thunder had some key advantages over other varieties in terms of its frost tolerance, a major issue for lentil producers, especially those planting in low-lying frost prone paddocks.
Ms Sounness was also upbeat about GIA Thunder’s prospects.
“GIA Thunder is going to be hugely popular as the imi tolerant types now dominate the market in terms of planted area.” Ms Sounness said.
There has been a significant expansion in lentil plantings in the past decade and imi-tolerant lines have been a big part of that.”
She said PBSeeds and GIA were planning to bolster seed availability of the new varieties for 2023 and beyond.
“Large areas of seed crops are being sown this year so there will be plenty of seed available to growers to plant in 2023 of both GIA Thunder and GIA Lightning.”
“PBSeeds are also organising seed for some demonstration trial crops and will also be marketing small parcels of these small seed class red lentils to end users after harvest. The seed type of both new varieties is very similar to Hurricane XT which has proven acceptance in the market.”
GIA are looking at more than just imi-tolerance in their portfolio, with two other new varieties, which will both be control released on a smaller-scale to allow further evaluation, featuring metribuzin and clopyralid tolerance respectively.
“Having varieties with these tolerances will allow farmers to have a solid herbicide rotation and not rely on the same group of chemicals and the associated potential risk of resistance,” Dr Materne said.
These two varieties, GIA Metro and GIA Sire are world first in their types, being the first released varieties with a tolerance to metribuzin and clopyralid respectively.
GIA Metro was developed by GIA using a metribuzin trait from a project funded by the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) and the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI).
Dr Materne said the success of the varieties highlighted the importance of Australia’s end point royalty (EPR) system for breeders.
“We’re a small operation and EPRs allow us to continue to invest in our breeding program and keep coming up with varieties that address grower needs,” he said.
“Lentils set to take market by storm”
Two new herbicide tolerant lentil varieties offered by start-up independent plant breeder Grains Innovation Australia, GIA, will offer growers a boost in yield over currently grown varieties across Australia’s lentil producing heartland of Victoria.
GIA breeder Michael Materne, based in Horsham, said national variety trial, NVT, data showed the varieties stacked up well against industry benchmarks in a range of settings.
Dr Materne said the aim with one of the varieties, GIA Lightning, had been to provide growers in lower rainfall, sandy soil environments, such as the Mallee, a solid herbicide-tolerant option that could help them better incorporate a pulse within their broader crop rotation.
GIA Lightning is an imidazolinone (imi) tolerant line that across Victorian and South Australian NVT trials it has yielded on average 109 per cent of Hurricane XT, currently the most widely grown imi-tolerant variety in lower rainfall zones.
Dr Materne said the breeding process had been tailored to creating a variety with good yield stability and growth pattern and a plant type suitable for sandier soils.
The variety had a limited quantity of seed commercially released this year and has proved popular.
Janine Sounness, commercial manager at PBSeeds, the distributor of the new variety, said all available seed sold out in a week to numerous Mallee farmers across both South Australia and Victoria.
Another variety the fledgling breeder is excited about is GIA Thunder, which has consistently proved the top yielding imi-tolerant lentilacross trials conducted both by GIA and its
collaborators and in NVTs in major lentil producing regions.
Recently released NVT data shows GIA Thunder’s yield potential on average is 111pc of Hurricane XT across Victoria and South Australian trials over 2020 and 2021.
Along with its herbicide tolerance, Dr Materne said GIA Thunder had some key advantages over other varieties in terms of its frost tolerance, a major issue for lentil producers, especially those planting in low-lying frost prone paddocks.
Ms Sounness was also upbeat about GIA Thunder’s prospects.
“GIA Thunder is going to be hugely popular as the imi tolerant types now dominate the market in terms of planted area,” Ms Sounness said.
“There has been a significant expansion in lentil plantings in the past decade and imi-tolerant lines have been a big part of that. Growers have always been quick to adopt improved lentil genetics for their farm rotations”
She said PB Seeds and GIA were planning to bolster seed availability of the new varieties for 2023 and this week have opened up seed orders to all nationwide.
“Large areas of seed crops are being sown this year so there will be plenty of seed available to growers to plant in 2023 of both GIA Thunder and GIA Lightning.”
“PBSeeds are also organising seed for some demonstration trial crops and will also be marketing small parcels of these small seed class red lentils to end users after harvest.”
“AgLife: Innovative crop varieties hit market”
Horsham-based Grains Innovation Australia is starting to make a name for itself in the crop-breeding scene.
A group of passionate growers, breeders, agronomists, seed, grain and marketing experts from north-west Victoria, and the mid-north and Yorke Peninsula regions of South Australia, founded the private breeding company in 2013.
With a suite of varieties released or just hitting the market this year, GIA leaders hope growers across Australia will soon benefit from the business’s innovative ideas.
GIA’s Dr Michael Materne said a farm-based team approach had ensured the company was breeding variety solutions that growers wanted and needed for their modern farming practices and systems.
He said the company’s broad expertise and enthusiasm had resulted in a change of focus on lentils to breeding pulses, oats, wheat, barley and canola.
Dr Materne said a key to GIA’s success was ‘working with the best partners to transform each idea into a variety for growers in the most efficient and fastest way possible’.
GIA’s first variety, Kingbale, bred by Dr Materne, is the world’s first IMI- tolerant oat.
“Kingbale’s IMI tolerance offers new options for weed control and also is an excellent option where there are residue concerns from imidazolinone use in previous crops,” Dr Materne said.
“It was developed in collaboration with InterGrain and Nufarm. Nufarm recently announced the exclusive registration of Sentry® Herbicide to use on imidazolinone, IMI, tolerant oats, according to their label directions.”
GIA has also released a new barley variety, Commodus CL, which the company bred and developed collaboratively with InterGrain.
“It’s the high yielding, vigorous, IMI-tolerant barley that growers have been wanting for low-medium rainfall areas, and on lighter sandier soils to compete with weeds,” Dr Materne said.
GIA Leader is the company’s first lentil variety and offers growers an imidazolinone-tolerant lentil with the best disease resistance.
“The variety is a mid-late season type so suited to more favourable growing areas and seasons, where its yield is comparable to current IMI lentil varieties,” Dr Materne said.
GIA partnered with Wimmera seed company, PBSeeds – which has extensive expertise with lentils – to bring the variety to market.
PBSeeds
PBSeeds commercial manager Janine Sounness said the company had produced ‘quality assured’ Kingbale, Commodus CL and Leader seed.
“Growers have been quick to order Commodus CL seed, which has already sold out, and Kingbale seed looks like it will sell out in the next month,” she said.
“We have been getting increasing orders for Leader over the past month as well.”
South Australian seed partner, AGSchilling Seeds, has also had strong orders for Kingbale.
It also released GIA’s world-first IMI-tolerant field peas, GIA Kastar and GIA Ourstar, to market last year, with seed still available for 2021.
Dr Materne said both varieties had improved tolerance to common in-crop and residual IMI herbicides for more effective weed control.
“GIA is proud to have developed varieties of great value to growers, as evident by the demand,” he said.
“We all live and work locally and want to contribute to seeing our farming communities thrive.”
“A gladiator in low rainfall areas”
NEW barley variety which is a good fit for medium to low rainfall areas with lighter soil types has been officially launched by InterGrain, with trial data from the breeder over the past three years and National Variety Trials in 2020 indicating that it yields similar to Compass.
Commodus CL – named after a Roman gladiator and meaning suitable, convenient or opportune – is the latest imidazolinone (IMI) tolerant barley from InterGrain and is set to only be received as a feed barley while its potential suitability for malting is evaluated over the next few years.
InterGrain barley breeder David Moody said Commodus CL was an exceptional variety to be adding to the company’s suite of IMI barleys as it provided growers with another high-yielding option for use within the IMI barley rotation.
“Grower interest has been strong due to their interest in an IMI tolerant variety and as Commodus CL offers very similar performance to Compass, it is ideally suited to medium-low rainfall environments,” Mr Moody said.
“It has a solid disease resistance package, including cereal cyst nematode (CCN) resistance and the same strong physical grain quality characteristics of Compass.
“It also has good early vigour which will assist early crop establishment and weed control, particularly on lighter soils.”
Commodus CL has the Clearfield herbicide tolerance trait developed by Agriculture Victoria Services, which is currently exclusively licensed to InterGrain.
Presence of the trait confers Commodus CL’s tolerance to registered label rates of Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) approved IMI herbicides, offering growers the ability to control brome and barley grass within the barley rotation.
The Clearfield trait provides increased rotational flexibility when other IMI tolerant crops have been grown the previous year and where there are residue concerns.
While Commodus CL is a great option for use within the IMI barley rotation, it also offers an alternative plant type to Spartacus CL and Maximus CL.
“With Maximus, we should learn within the next couple of weeks that it is malt accredited, whereas Commodus will go out as a feed variety pending two or three years of evaluation to determine it’s malting status,” Mr Moody said.
“Commodus is more for lower rainfall zones and sandy soils, whereas the Maximus and Spartacus plant types don’t perform as well there and tend to do better on heavier loams.
“We often get comments from growers north of the Great Eastern Highway, more in the eastern Wheatbelt, that they would prefer something taller and more vigorous, so if I had to pigeon hole an area for Commodus, it would be there.”
With varietal interest high, InterGrain is continuing to assess the line’s malting characteristics for potential submission to Barley Australia’s Malt and Brewing Accreditation program.
Mr Moody said demand for the new variety had significantly exceeded seed supplies in its first season.
“Growers have been after this weed competitive, IMI barley ever since we released Spartacus – they have wanted and demanded it for the last four years so it doesn’t surprise me at all that the seed has sold out,” he said.
“Most of the available seed will be with our Seed Shed partners who will be doing significant seed bulk-ups this year.
“I understand there is a very limited amount available for grower release and it is best to get in contact with an InterGrain territory manager to find out.”
While Commodus CL offers an overall effective agronomic package, the variety is considered to have a medium head loss risk and equivalent lodging tolerance to Compass.
With that in mind, harvest management strategies should be considered in higher yielding seasons or when harvest delays may occur to maximise varietal productivity.
“There are growers that either love or hate the compass type – if you’re a grower that hates it, don’t buy Commodus, but if you really like it, then Commodus is for you,” Mr Moody said.
“If someone has never grown Compass, the key thing to watch for is that under good conditions it can get quite tall and lodge, plus it can also be quite susceptible to leaf rust.
“For growers where those two things are a big issue, then I would stay away from Commodus and go down the Maximus path instead.”
Commodus CL, formerly known by its breeding code IGB1908, was bred and developed collaboratively by InterGrain and Grains Innovations Australia (GIA), which have formed a strategic barley breeding partnership to enhance the delivery of market leading varieties to maximise grower value.
“Herbicide registration paves way for new oat”
Offical confirmation of the registration of a new imidazolinone (imi) herbicide has paved the way for the release of the world’s first imi tolerant oat variety.
Kingbale will be released by InterGrain this season.
It will be treated with Nufarm’s Sentry herbicide, which has been registered for use in the oat crop, although the crop will only be for hay and seed production, not for grain oats until further research is conducted.
InterGrain and Nufarm, together with Grains Innovation Australia (GIA) worked together to develop the variety, which was bred by Michael Materne of GIA.
Kingbale is a mid-maturing variety with improved tolerance to soil residual imidazolinone herbicides.
InterGrain expects this will suit both growers concerned about imi residues from a previous crop or for those wanting to use it in conjunction with Sentry.
Agronomically Kingbale is a tall variety that has a similar disease resistance profile to the popular hay oat Wintaroo.
It has resistance to Cereal Cyst Nematode (CCN) but is likely susceptible to rust so will require proactive management with registered fungicides.
The new herbicide Sentry contains imazapic and imazapyr and is registered for use pre-sowing on a range of grass and broadleaf weeds including barley grass, brome grass and wild oats.
Sentry herbicide can be used in Kingbale crops intended for forage, oaten hay or seed production.
Officials said that when used in accordance with label instructions, Sentry was suitable for use in export oaten hay crops as no detectable residues are expected in either oaten hay or forage.
Nufarm has developed an industry stewardship program that will be released shortly and will become part of the broader Nufarm imiCrops program.
“World-first oat launched at Hart”
A GLOBAL first was revealed at the Hart Field Day on Tuesday – a new imidazolinone-tolerant oaten hay variety GIA1701 was launched, dubbed ‘Kingbale’.
A joint effort by Intergrain, private breeding company Grains Innovation Australia and Nufarm, Kingbale is the first imi-tolerant oat variety in the world.
It is also Intergrain’s first foray into oat breeding, more well known for wheat and barley varieties.
“We have a lot of expertise in imi-tolerant wheat and barley varieties, so this was an exciting diversification,” Intergrain chief executive officer Tress Walmsley said.
Ms Walmsley said there would be restricted access to seed from next year, while a proper stewardship package was developed.
“We want to ensure we have done all the right things before broad-scale commercial production,” she said.
“Growers will be able to use this for a pre-emergent herbicide application or for plantback opportunities, following on from other imi-tolerant crops they may have grown the years before,” Ms Walmsley said.
There was also a wheat session held at Hart where breeding companies gave updates on other new varieties available for the 2020 season, including Catapult from Australian Grain Technologies, Longreach Nighthawk and RockStar also from Intergrain.
“Research aims to adapt lentils to low-rainfall environments”
Growers in South Australia’s low rainfall cropping regions could soon have access to better-suited lentil varieties with unique traits, with a South Australian Grain Industry Trust funded project underway.
The project, led by Larn McMurray, a pulse researcher with Global Grain Genetics (GGG), the research division of Grain Innovations Australia, aims to develop the new lentils through two strategies.
One approach is the development of lentil germplasm, which is specifically adapted for low rainfall cropping areas, by selecting for morphological and phenological adaption in a low rainfall environment from a large genetically diverse population of PBA Jumbo2 created using conventional breeding methods.
The second strategy is combining the agronomic characteristics of the high early vigour trait that was developed in a PBA Hurricane XT based breeding population by GGG, with the high-yielding disease-resistant background of PBA Jumbo2 and improved herbicide characteristics also developed concurrently by GGG.
“The trials are allowing us to look at how individual traits perform in these low-rainfall environments,” Mr McMurray said.
“We’re testing herbicide tolerance traits across a range of herbicide groups and are also looking at the early vigour trait.
“Our aim is to put these traits together to make a more robust lentil for these environments.”
Trials were sown in mid-May at Alford on the Northern Yorke Peninsula, Pinnaroo in the SA Mallee, and Hopetoun in the Victorian Mallee.
Annual rainfall at the trial sites ranges from 302mm at Hopetoun to 353mm at Alford, with growing season rainfall ranging from 176mm at Hopetoun to 254mm at Alford.
“Rainfall has been low this year, so it will be interesting to see how the high vigour lines perform,” Mr McMurray said.
Planned measurements in 2018 include plant counts, early vigour scores, biomass cuts, flowering dates and harvest measurements including height, lodging and grain yield.
“Further lines will be selected from our diverse breeding population, which was sown at Pinnaroo this year, and these will be tested in field trials in 2019 and 2020,” Mr McMurray said.
“The other part of the SAGIT-funded work is to see if we can develop some new traits which have a real importance to low-rainfall areas.
“We’re using the same process of developing genetic diversity in PBA Jumbo that we used to develop the novel traits in PBA Hurricane XT.
“We’re looking at a hectare block of the PBA Jumbo based breeding population and aiming to see what sort of diverse traits we can find, which may have benefits for low-rainfall areas.”
“Growers’ GM experiences discussed”
FARMERS from across Lower Eyre Peninsula gathered in Cummins for the annual Landmark agronomy trial site tour last week.
Guest speaker and agronomist Dan Taylor spoke to the large gathering about the Western Australian genetically modified canola experience.
Mr Taylor, who has worked through a wide range of rainfall zones and yield environments across the Western Australian wheat belt, is currently based at Kellerberrin and Cunderdin as an agronomist and partner at DKT Agencies.
Mr Taylor talked to the group about the opportunities and problems GM crops presented for farmers, as well as tackling multiple issues like high weed burdens with resistance and correcting subsoil acidity, while also trying to keep farms profitable.
“Helping farmers identify their biggest constraints to production and addressing them, often a number of them at once, is our biggest challenge,” he said.
Also speaking at the event was Plant Science Consulting operations manager Dr Sam Kleemann.
Dr Kleemann spoke to the group about resistances, covering why some herbicides work better than others based on adjuvant quality and how to maximise ryegrass control particularly in paddocks with mixed chemical resistance.
The tour group inspected nearby annual ryegrass trials before heading to a pulse and canola agronomy trial site, where Grains Innovation Australia (GIA) pulse researcher Larn McMurray discussed new and novel pulse and lentil varieties.
Growers were especially interested in the planned release of several new herbicides as well as breeding developments in canola varieties.
The final stop on the tour was at a cereal trial site at Yeelanna where growers networked with industry specialists to look at timing of sowing trials as well as cereal disease management, new varieties and improving wheat establishment on heavy soils.
Landmark agronomist and trial manager Patrick Head said the bus tour was an opportunity for farmers to interact with researchers and agronomists and learn about varieties, rotations, disease management and issues which were directly applicable to their farming enterprise.
“All of our trials are relevant to farmers in our region,” Mr Head said.
“We are always looking at ways we can support their farming businesses and being able to provide accurate information about the best varieties to sow, how to implement weed and disease control strategies, and tools to improve yields will help them to make more informed decisions in the future.
“This trial tour is also a way farmers can network with other farmers as well as scientists and product reps so they can ask questions and see the research being done first hand.”
“Kingbale Oat Variety to Stack Up”
“The Nufarm partnership means InterGrain and GIA can introduce expertise in weed control and further sharpen our focus on innovative solutions that will help solve identified challenges for grain growers.
“InterGrain always prioritises maximising grower returns from the varieties we introduce to them and strategic partnerships can value add that proposition,” Ms Walmsley said.
A tall oat variety, Kingbale has good early vigour and preliminary data shows it has a similar disease profile to Wintaroo.
Ms Walmsley said launching Kingbale at the Hart field day was the perfect fit, with South Australia’s mid-north a large export oaten hay producer.
“Our new partnership with GIA and the Kingbale launch complements the current wheat and barley varieties we have available to growers and supports our Australia wide market leading cereal breeding programs.
“Kingbale is the first of what we like to call the new oat dynasty, with other lines in the GIA pipeline also set to deliver agronomic and yield benefits that will boost Australian oat and oaten hay production and subsequent profitability for growers,” Ms Walmsley said.
Kingbale was bred and developed by Dr Materne of Global Grain Genetics, the research division of GIA, a private breeding company developing innovative crop varieties.
“We have been intensively developing Kingbale for four years and have trialled it in our South Australian and Victorian programs within our summer and winter programs,” he said.
“As we release varieties and help solve current grower and farming system limitations, we will be able to explore more of our novel, innovative ideas for a prosperous and sustainable grains industry and also continue to support the rural communities we are part of and unashamedly passionate about.”
For more information about Kingbale, visit: https://www.intergrain.com/variety/kingbale/
“New variety oat release a world first”
AUSTRALIA’S grain producers will have a range of new varietal choices following releases over recent weeks.
Headlining the new varieties is a world-first oat tolerant to imiadzolinone (imi), a widely used herbicide in Australian cropping systems.
Bred by Michael Materne, well known for his work in the pulse industry, the oat cultivar, called Kingbale, was developed by Grains Innovations Australia (GIA) and will be commercialised by Intergrain following a recent agreement with GIA.
According to Dr Materne, Kingbale offered growers a new herbicide option for their oaten hay rotations that significantly improved weed control.
“While looking over the fence from our pulse trials, we saw weedy oat crops and quickly learnt that herbicide options were very limited,” he said.
He said the crop was suited to growing where there was imi residue that would mean a non-tolerant variety was susceptible to herbicide damage.
“Kingbale’s imiadazolinone tolerance supports the variety as an excellent option where there are residue concerns from imidazolinone use in previous crops,” Dr Materne said.
A tall oat variety, Kingbale has good early vigour and preliminary data shows it has a similar disease profile to Wintaroo.
Intergrain chief executive Tress Walmsley said the oat variety was ideally suited to South Australia’s Mid North – a large export oaten hay producer, and was part of the company’s new oat dynasty.
Meanwhile, Intergrain is also quietly excited about its new wheat, Rockstar, launched with both the Western Australian and eastern markets in mind.
Rockstar is designed for the mid- to late-flowering maturity bracket.
The new variety has yielded well in trials across a range of environments and has hard classification in the southern zone, with Intergrain awaiting classification for WA and southern NSW.
Meanwhile, newcomer to the wheat seeds market, S&W is upbeat about the prospects of their winter wheat DS Bennett.
DS Bennett, designed for planting in medium rainfall zones across Victoria and southern NSW, has performed well in trials in comparison to similar varieties.
Wheat breeder S&W research and development lead Nicholas Willey said the company was thrilled with the early signs.
“We are certainly seeing that our DS Bennett, as well as DS Pascal, are widely delivering excellent results for growers seeking dual-purpose wheat options in these unpredictable seasons,” Mr Willey said.
He said the variety could be used as part of a frost management strategy due to its flowering window.